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Single Idea 4687
[filed under theme 3. Truth / H. Deflationary Truth / 3. Minimalist Truth
]
Full Idea
Minimalist theories of truth are those which involve minimum ontological commitment, avoiding references to 'reality' or 'facts' or 'what works', preferring to refer to formal relationships within language.
Gist of Idea
Minimal theories of truth avoid ontological commitment to such things as 'facts' or 'reality'
Source
PG (Db (ideas) [2031])
A Reaction
Personally I am suspicious of minimal theories, which seem to be designed by and for anti-realists. They seem too focused on language, when animals can obviously formulate correct propositions. I'm quite happy with the 'facts', even if that is vague.
The
211 ideas
from PG
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11461
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323 (roughly): Euclid wrote 'Elements', summarising all of geometry
[PG]
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11390
|
1000 (roughly): Upanishads written (in Sanskrit); religious and philosophical texts
[PG]
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11391
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750 (roughly): the Book of Genesis written by Hebrew writers
[PG]
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11392
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586: eclipse of the sun on the coast of modern Turkey was predicted by Thales of Miletus
[PG]
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11395
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570: Anaximander flourished in Miletus
[PG]
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11396
|
563: the Buddha born in northern India
[PG]
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11398
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540: Lao Tzu wrote 'Tao Te Ching', the basis of Taoism
[PG]
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11400
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529: Pythagoras created his secretive community at Croton in Sicily
[PG]
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11403
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500: Heraclitus flourishes at Ephesus, in modern Turkey
[PG]
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11404
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496: Confucius travels widely, persuading rulers to be more moral
[PG]
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11408
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472: Empedocles persuades his city (Acragas in Sicily) to become a democracy
[PG]
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11412
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450 (roughly): Parmenides and Zeno visit Athens from Italy
[PG]
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11414
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445: Protagoras helps write laws for the new colony of Thurii
[PG]
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11417
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436 (roughly): Anaxagoras is tried for impiety, and expelled from Athens
[PG]
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11421
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427: Gorgias visited Athens as ambassador for Leontini
[PG]
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11425
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399: Socrates executed (with Plato absent through ill health)
[PG]
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11432
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387 (roughly): Plato returned to Athens, and founded the Academy
[PG]
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11433
|
387 (roughly): Aristippus the Elder founder a hedonist school at Cyrene
[PG]
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11440
|
367: the teenaged Aristotle came to study at the Academy
[PG]
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11443
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360 (roughly): Diogenes of Sinope lives in a barrel in central Athens
[PG]
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11445
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347: death of Plato
[PG]
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11454
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343: Aristotle becomes tutor to 13 year old Alexander (the Great)
[PG]
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11456
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335: Arisotle founded his school at the Lyceum in Athens
[PG]
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11459
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330 (roughly): Chuang Tzu wrote his Taoist book
[PG]
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11465
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322: Aristotle retired to Chalcis, and died there
[PG]
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11468
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307 (roughly): Epicurus founded his school at the Garden in Athens
[PG]
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11470
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301 (roughly): Zeno of Citium founded Stoicism at the Stoa Poikile in Athens
[PG]
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11483
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261: Cleanthes replaced Zeno as head of the Stoa
[PG]
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11486
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229 (roughly): Chrysippus replaced Cleanthes has head of the Stoa
[PG]
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11492
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157 (roughly): Carneades became head of the Academy
[PG]
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11509
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85: most philosophical activity moves to Alexandria
[PG]
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11513
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78: Cicero visited the stoic school on Rhodes
[PG]
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11516
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60 (roughly): Lucretius wrote his Latin poem on epicureanism
[PG]
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11528
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65: Seneca forced to commit suicide by Nero
[PG]
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11531
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80: the discourses of the stoic Epictetus are written down
[PG]
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11535
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170 (roughly): Marcus Aurelius wrote his private stoic meditations
[PG]
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11537
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-200 (roughly): Sextus Empiricus wrote a series of books on scepticism
[PG]
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11541
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263: Porphyry began to study with Plotinus in Rome
[PG]
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11545
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310: Christianity became the official religion of the Roman empire
[PG]
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11549
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387: Ambrose converts Augustine to Christianity
[PG]
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11555
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523: Boethius imprisoned at Pavia, and begins to write
[PG]
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11557
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529: the emperor Justinian closes all the philosophy schools in Athens
[PG]
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11558
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622 (roughly): Mohammed writes the Koran
[PG]
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11559
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642: Arabs close the philosophy schools in Alexandria
[PG]
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11560
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910 (roughly): Al-Farabi wrote Arabic commentaries on Aristotle
[PG]
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11562
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1015 (roughly): Ibn Sina (Avicenna) writes a book on Aristotle
[PG]
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11564
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1090: Anselm publishes his proof of the existence of God
[PG]
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11566
|
1115: Abelard is the chief logic teacher in Paris
[PG]
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11573
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1166: Ibn Rushd (Averroes) wrote extensive commentaries on Aristotle
[PG]
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11581
|
1266: Aquinas began writing 'Summa Theologica'
[PG]
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11586
|
1280: after his death, the teaching of Aquinas becomes official Dominican doctrine
[PG]
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11591
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1328: William of Ockham decides the Pope is a heretic, and moves to Munich
[PG]
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17916
|
1347: the Church persecutes philosophical heresies
[PG]
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11593
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1470: Marsilio Ficino founds a Platonic Academy in Florence
[PG]
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11596
|
1513: Machiavelli wrote 'The Prince'
[PG]
|
|
11599
|
1543: Copernicus publishes his heliocentric view of the solar system
[PG]
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11601
|
1580: Montaigne publishes his essays
[PG]
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11607
|
1600: Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake in Rome
[PG]
|
|
11613
|
1619: Descartes's famous day of meditation inside a stove
[PG]
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11614
|
1620: Bacon publishes 'Novum Organum'
[PG]
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11619
|
1633: Galileo convicted of heresy by the Inquisition
[PG]
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11623
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1641: Descartes publishes his 'Meditations'
[PG]
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11626
|
1650: death of Descartes, in Stockholm
[PG]
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11627
|
1651: Hobbes publishes 'Leviathan'
[PG]
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11633
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1662: the Port Royal Logic is published
[PG]
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11634
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1665: Spinoza writes his 'Ethics'
[PG]
|
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11643
|
1676: Leibniz settled as librarian to the Duke of Brunswick
[PG]
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11649
|
1687: Newton publishes his 'Principia Mathematica'
[PG]
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11652
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1690: Locke publishes his 'Essay'
[PG]
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11654
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1697: Bayle publishes his 'Dictionary'
[PG]
|
|
11659
|
1713: Berkeley publishes his 'Three Dialogues'
[PG]
|
|
11666
|
1734: Voltaire publishes his 'Philosophical Letters'
[PG]
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11667
|
1739: Hume publishes his 'Treatise'
[PG]
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|
11675
|
1762: Rousseau publishes his 'Social Contract'
[PG]
|
|
11682
|
1781: Kant publishes his 'Critique of Pure Reason'
[PG]
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11683
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1785: Reid publishes his essays defending common sense
[PG]
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11687
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1798: the French Revolution
[PG]
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11694
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1807: Hegel publishes his 'Phenomenology of Spirit'
[PG]
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11701
|
1818: Schopenhauer publishes his 'World as Will and Idea'
[PG]
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11710
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1840: Kierkegaard is writing extensively in Copenhagen
[PG]
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11713
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1843: Mill publishes his 'System of Logic'
[PG]
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11715
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1848: Marx and Engels publis the Communist Manifesto
[PG]
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11717
|
1859: Darwin publishes his 'Origin of the Species'
[PG]
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11721
|
1861: Mill publishes 'Utilitarianism'
[PG]
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11724
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1867: Marx begins publishing 'Das Kapital'
[PG]
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11733
|
1879: Peirce taught for five years at Johns Hopkins University
[PG]
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17907
|
1879: Frege invents predicate logic
[PG]
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17909
|
1892: Frege's essay 'Sense and Reference'
[PG]
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17908
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1884: Frege publishes his 'Foundations of Arithmetic'
[PG]
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11735
|
1885: Nietzsche completed 'Thus Spake Zarathustra'
[PG]
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17911
|
1888: Dedekind publishes axioms for arithmetic
[PG]
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11740
|
1890: James published 'Principles of Psychology'
[PG]
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|
11742
|
1895 (roughly): Freud developed theories of the unconscious
[PG]
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11745
|
1900: Husserl began developing Phenomenology
[PG]
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|
11746
|
1903: Moore published 'Principia Ethica'
[PG]
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|
11747
|
1904: Dewey became professor at Columbia University
[PG]
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17910
|
1908: Zermelo publishes axioms for set theory
[PG]
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11752
|
1910: Russell and Whitehead begin publishing 'Principia Mathematica'
[PG]
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11756
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1912: Russell meets Wittgenstein in Cambridge
[PG]
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11762
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1921: Wittgenstein's 'Tractatus' published
[PG]
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11765
|
1927: Heidegger's 'Being and Time' published
[PG]
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|
11768
|
1930: Frank Ramsey dies at 27
[PG]
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|
11770
|
1931: Gödel's Incompleteness Theorems
[PG]
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|
11773
|
1933: Tarski's theory of truth
[PG]
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|
11783
|
1942: Camus published 'The Myth of Sisyphus'
[PG]
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|
11784
|
1943: Sartre's 'Being and Nothingness'
[PG]
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|
11787
|
1945: Merleau-Ponty's 'Phenomenology of Perception'
[PG]
|
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17918
|
1947: Carnap published 'Meaning and Necessity'
[PG]
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11794
|
1950: Quine's essay 'Two Dogmas of Empiricism'
[PG]
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17917
|
1953: Wittgenstein's 'Philosophical Investigations'
[PG]
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17919
|
1956: Place proposed mind-brain identity
[PG]
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11804
|
1962: Kuhn's 'Structure of Scientific Revolutions'
[PG]
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17921
|
1967: Putnam proposed functionalism of the mind
[PG]
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|
11808
|
1971: Rawls's 'A Theory of Justice'
[PG]
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|
11810
|
1972: Kripke publishes 'Naming and Necessity'
[PG]
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11813
|
1975: Singer publishes 'Animal Rights'
[PG]
|
|
17920
|
1975: Putnam published his Twin Earth example
[PG]
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|
11820
|
1986: David Lewis publishes 'On the Plurality of Worlds'
[PG]
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11301
|
Aisthesis: perception, sensation, consciousness
[PG]
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11302
|
Aitia / aition: cause, explanation
[PG]
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|
11303
|
Akrasia: lack of control, weakness of will
[PG]
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11304
|
Aletheia: truth
[PG]
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|
11305
|
Anamnesis: recollection, remembrance
[PG]
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11306
|
Ananke: necessity
[PG]
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11307
|
Antikeimenon: object
[PG]
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11375
|
Apatheia: unemotional
[PG]
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|
11308
|
Apeiron: the unlimited, indefinite
[PG]
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11376
|
Aphairesis: taking away, abstraction
[PG]
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11309
|
Apodeixis: demonstration
[PG]
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11310
|
Aporia: puzzle, question, anomaly
[PG]
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|
11311
|
Arche: first principle, the basic
[PG]
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|
11312
|
Arete: virtue, excellence
[PG]
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|
11313
|
Chronismos: separation
[PG]
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11314
|
Diairesis: division
[PG]
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11315
|
Dialectic: dialectic, discussion
[PG]
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11316
|
Dianoia: intellection [cf. Noesis]
[PG]
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11317
|
Diaphora: difference
[PG]
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11318
|
Dikaiosune: moral goodness, justice
[PG]
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11319
|
Doxa: opinion, belief
[PG]
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11320
|
Dunamis: faculty, potentiality, capacity
[PG]
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11321
|
Eidos: form, idea
[PG]
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11322
|
Elenchos: elenchus, interrogation
[PG]
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11323
|
Empeiron: experience
[PG]
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11324
|
Energeia: employment, actuality, power?
[PG]
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11325
|
Enkrateia: control
[PG]
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11326
|
Entelecheia: entelechy, having an end
[PG]
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11327
|
Epagoge: induction, explanation
[PG]
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11328
|
Episteme: knowledge, understanding
[PG]
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11329
|
Epithumia: appetite
[PG]
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11330
|
Ergon: function
[PG]
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11331
|
Eristic: polemic, disputation
[PG]
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11333
|
Eudaimonia: flourishing, happiness, fulfilment
[PG]
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11334
|
Genos: type, genus
[PG]
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11335
|
Hexis: state, habit
[PG]
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11336
|
Horismos: definition
[PG]
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11338
|
Hupokeimenon: subject, underlying thing [cf. Tode ti]
[PG]
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11339
|
Kalos / kalon: beauty, fineness, nobility
[PG]
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11340
|
Kath' hauto: in virtue of itself, essentially
[PG]
|
|
11341
|
Kinesis: movement, process
[PG]
|
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11342
|
Kosmos: order, universe
[PG]
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|
11343
|
Logos: reason, account, word
[PG]
|
|
11344
|
Meson: the mean
[PG]
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|
11345
|
Metechein: partaking, sharing
[PG]
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11377
|
Mimesis: imitation, fine art
[PG]
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11347
|
Noesis: intellection, rational thought [cf. Dianoia]
[PG]
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11348
|
Nomos: convention, law, custom
[PG]
|
|
11349
|
Nous: intuition, intellect, understanding
[PG]
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|
11350
|
Orexis: desire
[PG]
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|
11351
|
Ousia: substance, (primary) being, [see 'Prote ousia']
[PG]
|
|
11352
|
Pathos: emotion, affection, property
[PG]
|
|
11353
|
Phantasia: imagination
[PG]
|
|
11354
|
Philia: friendship
[PG]
|
|
11355
|
Philosophia: philosophy, love of wisdom
[PG]
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|
11356
|
Phronesis: prudence, practical reason, common sense
[PG]
|
|
11357
|
Physis: nature
[PG]
|
|
11358
|
Praxis: action, activity
[PG]
|
|
11359
|
Prote ousia: primary being
[PG]
|
|
11360
|
Psuche: mind, soul, life
[PG]
|
|
11361
|
Sophia: wisdom
[PG]
|
|
11362
|
Sophrosune: moderation, self-control
[PG]
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|
11363
|
Stoicheia: elements
[PG]
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|
11364
|
Sullogismos: deduction, syllogism
[PG]
|
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11365
|
Techne: skill, practical knowledge
[PG]
|
|
11366
|
Telos: purpose, end
[PG]
|
|
11367
|
Theoria: contemplation
[PG]
|
|
11369
|
Ti esti: what-something-is, essence
[PG]
|
|
11370
|
Timoria: vengeance, punishment
[PG]
|
|
11371
|
To ti en einai: essence, what-it-is-to-be
[PG]
|
|
11372
|
To ti estin: essence
[PG]
|
|
11373
|
Tode ti: this-such, subject of predication [cf. hupokeimenon]
[PG]
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4465
|
Note that "is" can assert existence, or predication, or identity, or classification
[PG]
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4686
|
Fallacies are errors in reasoning, 'formal' if a clear rule is breached, and 'informal' if more general
[PG]
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7415
|
Question-begging assumes the proposition which is being challenged
[PG]
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7414
|
What is true of a set is also true of its members
[PG]
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|
6696
|
The Ad Hominem Fallacy criticises the speaker rather than the argument
[PG]
|
|
4687
|
Minimal theories of truth avoid ontological commitment to such things as 'facts' or 'reality'
[PG]
|
|
6516
|
Monty Hall Dilemma: do you abandon your preference after Monty eliminates one of the rivals?
[PG]
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|
3875
|
If reality is just what we perceive, we would have no need for a sixth sense
[PG]
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24054
|
Everything has a probability, something will happen, and probabilities add up
[PG]
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|
3876
|
If my team is losing 3-1, I have synthetic a priori knowledge that they need two goals for a draw
[PG]
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7734
|
Maybe a mollusc's brain events for pain ARE of the same type (broadly) as a human's
[PG]
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|
7735
|
Maybe a frog's brain events for fear are functionally like ours, but not phenomenally
[PG]
|
|
3877
|
Utilitarianism seems to justify the discreet murder of unhappy people
[PG]
|
|
6126
|
Life is Movement, Respiration, Sensation, Nutrition, Excretion, Reproduction, Growth (MRS NERG)
[PG]
|
|
3874
|
How could God know there wasn't an unknown force controlling his 'free' will?
[PG]
|
|
3873
|
An omniscient being couldn't know it was omniscient, as that requires information from beyond its scope of knowledge
[PG]
|